"We're The Band"
Chapter 1: Set-up and Warm Up
Day of the Dance, Afternoon, Tokyo-3 Metropolitan Junior High School Gymnasium
The decorating committee was in full swing, bustling about the gym like honeybees on crack. Most of them had been excused from the last hour of class to begin transforming the shabby gym into a teenage approximation of a dance club.
In this sea of noise and activity, behind the stage curtain, six friends worked at setting up instruments and electronics as the opening act of the dance.
"Aida-kun, the cabling is complete. Here is the final connector," announced Rei in a voice that brought startled glances from everyone and raised eyebrows from her newly announced brother, Shinji. That voice held none of the usual monotone, but did hold the energy and excitement of the 14 year old girl that she was. Unnoticed amid the other surprises, was a beet red Kensuke who, for the first time in his life, had been referred to in something other than contempt by a girl. Hehe, maybe this rock band idea of Shinji's won't turn out to be so bad after all . . . thought the otaku.
"What? Did I say something wrong?" asked Rei to the startled faces around her as a blushing Kensuke took the cable end from her hand.
"No, no, sis," responded Shinji waving his hands. "I think we're all still trying to come to grips with all of the recent changes in our lives. We're just not used to you being so . . . extroverted."
While the changes to Rei's previously emotionless expression were small, they spoke volumes to the Second and Third Children who had spent many hours around her. Those changes practically screamed the exasperation and annoyance a teenage girl could have with a brainless brother.
"Are you saying that this emotional transformation is a bad thing, brother?" declared Rei with a hint of threat to, a now sweating, Shinji.
"HAHA! Your devil girlfriend is rubbing off on your sister, Shin-man! eerp" guffawed Toji until the steel fingers of the class rep tightened on his ear even before a certain, volatile red-head could barbeque him.
"SUZAHARA! Apologize!" growled Hikari from behind the drum riser, her grip on Toji's ear tightening and twisting.
"uhhh . . . ow . . . ok, ok, ease up Hikari-chan. Sorry Rei and Asuka," grumbled Toji. He went back to setting up his drum kit once Hikari released the grip of death on his ear. Hikari, Rei, and Asuka shared a triumphant grin as they once again proved their control and superiority over the stooges.
Kensuke just shook his head as he finished connecting his lap top to the control board. Turning to Rei, "Ayanami, I'm going to initiate the test control sequence on the lights. Could you make sure that they all turn on and off in sequence?"
"Ok. Back soon," winked Rei as she disappeared through the stage curtain.
Shinji sighed quietly and thanked all the good forces in the universe for having saved him from the wrath of his sister who had indeed been taking relationship queues from Asuka. At that thought, he made a surreptitious glance over at her. She had just finished setting up the microphone stand and had turned to look at him also. Caught peeking, he blushed and thought that there were downsides to synch training. Asuka gave him a quick wink and smile to show that she forgave him and went to back to closing the bag that held the sound equipment.
Finished connecting his effects pedals to the control head of his amp, Shinji was just starting to re-tune his guitar when the reality that he was going to be performing in front of the entire school and faculty came crashing down on his still fragile psyche. The nervousness and other symptoms commonly known as "stage fright" began to manifest. His hands began to shake causing the notes to warble as he tried to tune his guitar. His breathing began to quicken and shallow as his eyes unfocused. On the verge of a full blown panic attack, he struggled to get control of himself. It wasn't until Asuka cupped his face in her hands and turned it to allow her eyes to look directly into his that he was able to fully regain control of himself.
"Baka-kun." Hearing her pet name for him, Shinji's eyes refocused and he took a deep breath.
"You'll be fine. After all, you are the Invincible Shinji – Axe God, and, more importantly, my boyfriend," declared Asuka. "Besides, you can always just step on the school in Unit-01 during the next tests as punishment." At this, Shinji gave a small nod and took another deep breath.
"Thanks Asuka-chan. It just hit me all of a sudden," responded Shinji.
"Shinji, I've heard you practice for weeks now. You guys are good, and it'll be fine,"
"Yeah. It's just the anticipation that gets to me," sighed Shinji.
To this, Asuka moved closer, close enough that he could feel the heat from her face on his.
In a breathy whisper, "You mean like this?"
The slight hesitation received the desired reaction, and Shinji, unable to deal with the tension, ended it by closing the distance between them and gave her the kiss she had wanted.
"Hey you two! Get a room!" bellowed Toji from his now completed drum kit.
Quicker than Hikari's fingers to Toji's ear or Asuka's ear-splitting shriek of protest, Shinji broke the kiss, shot his friend a look and said, "What a way to break the mood! I don't go interrupting your lunches with Hikari, do I?"
Toji stiffened with surprise as Asuka giggled and thought, That's MY Baka. I'm definitely training him well. Then, as the shock wore off, Toji laughed along with Kensuke and Hikari.
Yes, much had changed amongst the close group of friends.
Rei pushed her way through the heavy stage curtains. "The light controls work in a satisfactory manner, and it is now time to start."
Asuka and Hikari took a peek through the curtain and saw that, indeed, the gym had filled not only with students but faculty as well. It was a bit of a novelty to have a student band play, and many of the staff were both curious and a little apprehensive at what exactly the trio would play.
Gym Floor
The crack high had worn off the decorating committee and they sighed in satisfaction at their decorating prowess. Welcome back banners were up along with pictures of all of the students including the new ones. Streamers looped in from various places in the room, and they had scored a disco ball from the drama department's prop room. They had some decorated tables for the food committee to lay their goodies out on along with balloons and other odds and ends.
Snippets of conversations could be heard among the gathering students:
" . . . Ikari plays guitar? . . . What kind of music . . . do they have orange soda . . . who else is in the band . . . wonder if she'll dance with me . . . "
As with most dances, the genders had self-selected, and there were groups of boys and groups of girls, but no groups of both sexes. The staff looked on at the scene that had been repeated at every dance the school had held for as long as they could remember. They wouldn't have to begin actively chaperoning the students until MUCH later in the evening.
NERV Command Center
Misato's watch began to beep an angry and insistent sequence until silenced by the groggy Sub-Commander. Curious looks from Aoba and Maya brought Misato back to the world of the wakeful.
"Hey, it's time! Punch up the live surveillance video Section 2 has of the junior high gym!" declared Misato.
Aoba turned to comply, but Maya raised an eyebrow. "Why? What's going on?"
"Don't you remember? Tonight's the night of the Welcome Back Dance and Shinji and his band are the opening act!"
"That's right! This'll be great! We either get good live entertainment, huge amounts of teasing material, or both! Anything to deal with these marathon shifts."
"Maya, you sound just like Ritsuko! Aoba, don't forget to run the recorders!"
Backstage
"Ok, Rei, Hikari, let's go find a good spot!" announced Asuka taking charge, of course. "See you guys after the set – and NO GROUPIES!"
Kensuke, Toji, and Shinji gave little waves good bye as the girls made their way to the front of the stage and laughed as they heard Rei ask Asuka, "What are 'groupies'?"
With that, the trio began to warm up - Toji with some drum riffs as he loosened up his wrists and legs, Kensuke with some keyboard scales and chords, Shinji also with chords, scales and riffs. They checked volume and mix, ending with a short little ditty to make sure that the monitors were up and running.
Hikari had come back up during warm-ups and seeing that they had mostly finished, "Guys, you're on. Start when you're ready." With that, she hurried back to where Asuka and Rei were waiting with some of the other girls in their class.
They moved to their stage locations and Shinji looked at them and said, "Let's do this."
Author's Notes and reflection: Well, first real chapter of my first fanfic is done! Hope I didn't damage any of you too severely. I do know that it's pretty short and I moved this pretty fast. Hopefully, later chapters will have a better pacing. Let me know the psychic damage and I'll try for different problems